Fascination - Science & Technology Facilities Council

Front cover image: Student at Big Bang Fair 2011
If you would like to register to receive Fascination automatically
please visit http://www.stfc.ac.uk/fascination
ISSUE 6 - May 2011
News from the
Science and Technology
Facilities Council
Exploring & Understanding Science
CONTENTS
World’s biggest ever
telescope
Basque President marks
success of international
collaboration at ISIS
Real time race
I-TAC tenants secure
£270,000 of funding
National Science and
Engineering Week goes off
with a bang
Access all areas,
Backstage Science

New project will promote equality
and diversity in HE research careers
A new project ‘Every researcher counts’ led by Vitae and
commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for
England (HEFCE) is set to improve equality and diversity for
research staff within the HE sector. Many of the challenges
relating to equality and diversity are systemic within the
HE sector, particularly for research staff. These can create
a difficult environment for researchers, but particularly
disadvantages some groups including women, disabled and
black and minority ethnic researchers.
The project is aiming to develop a network of at least
50 individuals to act as ‘equality and diversity champions’
from over 50 different HEIs across the UK. Vitae is currently
seeking nominations from equality and diversity specialists,
widening participation staff, Human Resources staff,
academics, HEI senior managers or principal investigators
(PIs). Champions will be expected to raise awareness of the
researcher equality and diversity agenda within HEIs, use
and distribute resources to PIs and staff developers, attend
regional ‘train-the-trainer’ events, and provide feedback to
the project team.
The project is an important part of the HEFCE
implementation strategy for the Concordat to Support the
Career Development of Researchers.
More information about the ‘Every researcher counts’,
its wider objectives and outcomes is available on the Vitae
website www.vitae.ac.uk For ECU guidance to HEIs regarding
equality and diversity please visit: www.ecu.ac.uk
The first science paper from the
Research Complex at Harwell
Research by scientists in the Laser for Science Facility, based at
the Research Complex at Harwell (RcaH), and colleagues at the
University of Bristol has shown how the energy generated by
chemical reactions in solution is dissipated to the environment in
less than a billionth of a second.
Using the unique capabilities of STFC’s ULTRA laser system,
scientists from the University of Bristol have been able to watch
a chemical reaction happening in solution with more detail than
ever before. This could lead to improved drug design for medical
therapies and catalysts for industrial processing, and pave the
way for further applications in bio- and atmospheric chemistry.
The superfast ULTRA laser system was able to monitor the
transfer of energy from the reaction product to the surrounding
solvent by following changes in chemical bonds much faster than
was possible previously. The research is featured on the cover of
the journal Science.
Science Paper. http://www.sciencemag.org/
content/331/6023.cover-expansion
2

Getting ready for the world’s
biggest ever telescope
Plans for the world’s biggest telescope - the
Square Kilometre Array (SKA) - have advanced
significantly with a decision to locate the
project office at Jodrell Bank Observatory near
Manchester.
The SKA is a €1.5 billion global science project to build the
world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. The SKA
will be capable of answering some of the most fundamental
questions about the Universe.
STFC’s Professor John Womersley, chair of the Founding
Board, said: “Given the current economic environment, it
is reassuring that so many partners have recognised the
importance of supporting the SKA.
Our partners have taken this step not only because of the
inspirational nature of the discoveries that the SKA will make,
but also because of the economic benefits that international
megascience projects can bring to participating countries.”
The SKA project will drive technology development in
antennas, signal transport, signal processing, and software
and computing. Spin off innovations in these areas will benefit
other systems that process large volumes of data. The design,
construction and operation of the SKA has the potential to
impact skills development in science, engineering and in
associated industries, not only in the host countries but in all
project partners.
Artist’s impression of the SKA dishes
(Credit: SPDO / TDP / DRAO / Swinburne
Astronomy Productions)
£11M investment destined
to make air travel safer
Universities and Science Minister
David Willetts announced £11M
funding to build a new testing
facility that will make electronics
systems less susceptible to the
potentially catastrophic effects
of cosmic neutrons, during a visit
to STFC’s Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory.
Funding from the Large Facilities
Capital Fund will be used to build
a new beamline on the world
leading ISIS neutron source.
Called ‘Chipir’, the beamline will
be used to simulate the effects
of cosmic radiation which can
cause the failure of microchips
in sensitive electronics systems.
Problems can vary from wiping a
device’s memory to the complete
destruction of the electronics - a
serious issue at altitude. In a single
hour, ISIS will be able to replicate
the effects of 100 years of flying
time.
David Willetts, Minister
for Science at STFC’s ISIS
facility
3

Technology Breakthrough
Back in issue 2 we reported on the EMMA accelerator - A brand
new technology that promises a range of applications from
treating cancer to powering safer nuclear reactors. EMMA is
located at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory. EMMA is a proof of
principle prototype for a brand new type of particle accelerator,
designed by an international team of scientists, including a
number of the UK’s top universities and institutes. A major
part of the BASROC CONFORM project, EMMA is funded by the
Research Councils UK (RCUK) Basic Technology programme.
EMMA has now achieved its most significant milestone
yet. For the first time, an electron beam was steered around
the circumference of EMMA’s ring and then successfully
accelerated to 18 MeV. This momentous milestone, and a world
first, not only confirms that the design of the most technically
demanding aspects of EMMA is sound, it also demonstrates the
feasibility of EMMA’s technology, which now paves the way for
the construction of a whole new generation of more powerful,
yet more compact and economical accelerators.
http://www.conform.ac.uk
ALMA up date
On 30 March the ALMA Observatory, an array of millimetre
wave telescopes being constructed in the Atacama Desert of
Chile, issued its first Call for Proposals.
ALMA now has 16 of its planned 50 antennas available
and is ready for early scientific exploitation. As the world’s
largest millimetre wave interferometer ALMA is a very powerful
and complex instrument; to make it as easy as possible for
astronomers to plan and make their observations, a special
ALMA Observing Tool has been developed by a team led by
Dr Alan Bridger of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK
ATC). The software, which is the Astronomers’ main interface
to ALMA, has been in development since 2002 and is already
in use for commissioning of the facility. The tool is the first
of its kind for an interferometer and its 500,000 lines of code
were written by a team including members from Edinburgh and
Mitako (Tokyo), the team interacts with other ALMA developers
in 12 sites across the world.
The UK ATC software group is part of a large collaboration,
which includes the European Southern Observatory and the
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Alan and many
of his team have years of experience developing integrated
observation preparation, execution and analysis software,
examples of which were deployed on the JCMT and UKIRT
telescopes in Hawaii during 1998 and 1999. Packages like
this make planning and executing observations very efficient
and flexible, so it is possible to match observing plans to
atmospheric conditions and maximise the scientific return from
these powerful facilities.
For more information visit
www.almaobservatory.org
www.ukatc.ac.uk
The Atacama Large Millimeter
Array (ALMA)
4

Basque President marks success of
international collaboration at ISIS
Patxi Lopez, President of the Basque Country and Dr Andrew Taylor, ISIS Director,
with the steel vacuum tank manufactured in the Basque Country for installation at
the ISIS Neutron Source.
The scientific and technical
collaboration between STFC’s
ISIS neutron source and the
Basque Country has been
celebrated during a visit by
the region’s President Patxi
Lopez.
International
collaborations have enabled
ISIS to continually push the
boundaries of accelerator
technology and neutron
instrumentation to deliver
innovative and highimpact
science. Exchanging
technological expertise has
enabled Basque companies
to manufacture high-tech
equipment for ISIS and other
similar projects.
Dr Andrew Taylor, Director,
ISIS, said: “For more than
twenty years, ISIS has been
a world leader, a position
we maintain because of
the excellence of our staff
and of our international
partnerships.”
High temperature
optical sensors
Wave-Phire Sensor
STFC’s spin out company Oxsensis is developing fibre optical
sensors for hostile environments, including extremely high
temperatures and pressures. They will be used in ultra high
temperature situations such as gas turbines for power
generation, aero-engines industrial processes and other
hostile environments such as poisonous gas detection and
petrochemical processes.
This is contributing to the development of a range of
internal combustion engines including reciprocating engines
and gas turbines.
Internal combustion engine development continues to
address a number of challenges including, for example, the
management of stable lean burn combustion at temperatures
up to 1000˚C across wide operating ranges, and the use of
varying fuel compositions. The drive to reduce fuel burn is
relentless and early thermodynamic wins are now giving
way to harder and more complex steps which are needed to
ensure continued progress. Sophisticated control strategies
are emerging, which require reliable and ‘actionable’
information in order to succeed.
Initially sensors were trialled in relevant test rigs
constructed within Oxsensis laboratory facilities. Such
rigs are designed to recreate aspects of the harsh engine
environment such as the high temperatures, pressures,
vibration levels and acoustic effects, however, none can truly
combine all of these aspects to fully recreate the real-life
environment.
After completion of these initial laboratory based
demonstrations, the systems were deployed in full engine
operation for land-based tests on smaller aero engines. A
helicopter engine offered the first test berth, followed by a
turbojet engine and other land-based aero engine tests, some
of which are ongoing. A total of 50,000 combined running
hours have now been achieved with five sensors at the
Didcot B Power station.
Oxsensis is extending its R&D experience into a number
of reciprocating engine test environments during 2011. There
are two main engine areas for evaluation; in-cylinder and
exhaust manifold locations.
Oxsensis will run dynamic pressure sensors in a
commercial development engine, in a 1000°C location,
upstream of a turbocharger. Oxsensis will also trial incylinder
sensors on another research automotive test bed.
The next stage will involve work with a number of
research groups to provide them with the opportunity
to evaluate multi-parameter sensing systems, first in the
laboratory, and then in rigs and also engine tests.
http://www.oxsensis.com/
5

Real time race
not just playing games
Based at the Daresbury Innovation Centre Real Time Race
(RTR) develops three dimensional immersive video graphics,
initially for the computer game market. If you look on its
website www.rtr.co/ you will see how they produce a
perfect video representation of the Lotus Test Track. This
system, called iflex, has two advantages, it is significantly
more efficient than using CGI, taking a fraction of the time of
conventional means and it produces quality images with TV
like reality.
The key to the patented system is sophisticated software
that combines military grade GPS, high resolution laser range
finding and 3D video. It is so sensitive that it can detect
minor changes in the road surface, such as white marking
lines.
Matching the iflex images with a physics engine enables
you to design the capabilities of a virtual physics engine
vehicle, be it a racing car, motorcycle or off road vehicle to
replicate exactly the behaviour that you want.
This enables car manufacturers, advertising agencies
and race track operators to have effective high quality
simulations. Furthermore it can provide a realistic driver
training aid for emergency services.
Of course the applications of this system are not restricted
to racing simulations. The accuracy of the system makes
it ideal for sophisticated engineering analysis. Caterpillar,
the earth moving equipment manufacturer, uses the iflex
system to accurately map quarry floors, including the
surface, potholes and rocks and then match this with 3D
videos of the suspension and tyre movements to get a better
understanding of the impact of different environments on
their vehicles endurance and performance.
The latest addition to RTR’s range is itherm, merging iflex
with a 3D thermal imaging system that enables mass surveys
of cities, industrial plant, road surfaces etc
www.rtr.co/
6

OCF enCORE service uses STFC
server cluster to power Lola Cars
The use of server clusters or ‘supercomputers’ to aid research
and development is not new. However, accessing their
processing power as a service from a third-party supplier is
certainly an innovation.
In December 2010 STFC signed a unique agreement with OCF
plc to make use of spare processing power from its own IBM
iDataPlex server cluster. OCF will make that processing power
available to UK businesses of any service through its enCORE
service. Naturally OCF works very closely with STFC (including
becoming a tenant at the Daresbury Science and Innovation
Campus).
Phil Tiller, Senior Aerodynamicist at Lola Cars, a racing car
engineering company, has been successfully using enCORE
and STFC’s spare power for around four weeks. He is testing
Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) research and development
cases.
Phil comments: “We have been able to use enCORE to reduce
processing time for our test cases to just five hours, down from
up to two days. It means we can get information out to the
engineers on the track in advance of weekend racing.”
He continues: “We always want a bigger computer, but the
business does not have infinite resources. Using enCORE is a like a
pay-as-you-go mobile, you can spend as you use it, when you use
it and not at other times. It becomes a manageable running cost.”
enCORE has been successfully tested by a range of companies
since December, including Lola Cars, and is now available to any
UK business.
www.ocf.co.uk
Dyson Racing Lola-Mazda
LMP at Long Beach
(Credit Lola/Regis Lefebure)
Using X-rays to fight tooth decay
Tooth decay is very common, and affects people of all ages.
The problem is caused by sticky deposits called plaque that
collect, most commonly around the gum line and the grooved
surfaces of the teeth. So how could a team of researchers
from the UK and Japan use the Diamond synchrotron, based
at the Harwell Oxford Campus, and the Photon Factory in
Tsukuba City, Japan, to solve the 3D structure of an enzyme
that plays a key role in tooth decay
caused by sugar?
Tooth decay can occur when
a biofilm, or dental plaque as it is
more commonly known, is formed
by a large and sticky glucose
polymer called glucan. The glucan
biofilm contains bacteria and food
debris and forms on the surface
of the tooth. As they grow, the
bacteria secrete acids which break
down the tooth’s hard enamel
on the surface. The structural
information published in the Journal
of Molecular Biology provides a
critical insight into how the enzyme
‘GTF-SI’, a glucansucrase, forms
glucan, the sticky biofilm substance.
“With the use of the Diamond
synchrotron and the Photon
Factory we have been able to solve not only the structure
of the enzyme alone but also its structure when bound to
an existing inhibitor,” says Sohei Ito from the Laboratory of
Food Protein Engineering at the University of Shizuoka in
graphical abstract (of a glucansucrase enzyme from the dental caries
pathogen Streptococcus mutans forming a biofilm, and the acids
within) credit: Reprinted from the Journal of Molecular Biology, Vol
408, Issue 2, Keisuke Ito et al. ‘Crystal Structure of Glucansucrase
from the Dental Caries Pathogen Streptococcus mutans’. Pages 177-
378, Copyright (2011), with permission from Elsevier.
Japan, and lead researcher on the project. “Several inhibitors
that prevent this type of enzyme forming glucan have
been identified but to date there has been little structural
information available. With the data we collected at Diamond
and the Photon Factory, we now have a better understanding
of how the enzyme functions and how it can be stopped. This
structural information should be useful in the design of novel
inhibitors that will prevent the
biofilm formation by glucansucrases
and reduce the risk of possible side
effects such as hypoglycaemia.
These novel inhibitors could be
incorporated into toothpaste and
mouthwash, making them more
effective at preventing tooth
decay.”
The structural data collection
at the Diamond synchrotron
was carried out on the I02
Macromolecular Crystallography
(MX) experimental station. Principal
Beamline Scientist, Professor
Thomas Sorensen, says, “Knowing
the 3D structure of the enzyme is
like knowing the shape of a lock
you need to find a key for – it makes
it much easier to find the right key
that will fit. In this case, the inhibitor acts like the key, fitting
into the lock in just the right way so that it can do its job.”
www.diamond.ac.uk, University of Shizuoka
visit http://eng.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp/index.html
7

I-TAC Tenants secure
£270,000 of funding
The Innovations Technology Access Centre (I-TAC) prides
itself on supporting SME’s in the early stages of their business
development by providing access to world class facilities,
high specification equipment and STFC expertise. After its first
year in operation, I-TAC has achieved significantly more than
expected. Tenant companies have employed 12 new people,
£270,000 of funding and investment has been secured by the
tenants and over 200 people have been shown around I-TAC.
Within I-TAC, tenants cover the areas of energy, healthcare
and environment, in line with the government’s and STFC’s
strategy for addressing solutions to these grand challenges. The
running of the I-TAC Futures Challenge (detailed in Fascination
issue 5) allowed companies to win access to I-TAC’s facilities in
these key target areas. The STFC Futures Programme was the
support behind the competition.
The Futures Programme was STFC’s response to ensuring
that skills and technology originally developed to address
fundamental research questions are harnessed effectively to
provide solutions to the global challenges.
Since they have been on site this is what just three of the
companies have achieved;
Butters Innovations Ltd has gained £195,000 in funding
since being based in I-TAC. £25,000 came from achieving a
Disruptive Innovation Award from a Technology Strategy Board
(TSB) competition. This has enabled them to commission the
Engineering Technology Centre on the Daresbury Science and
Innovation Campus (DSIC) to co-develop the software, electronics
and mechanical elements of their MoRoW II stroke patient
rehabilitation device. A working electro-mechanical prototype
will undergo clinical trials later this year. The same project gained
Butters Innovation a £10,000 Strategic IP Audit grant from the
UK Intellectual Property Office; they have also received £160,000
from the NHS I4I programme. “It’s very exciting to work with
such an experienced and talented team of hardware and software
engineers. Working at I-TAC has enabled us to fill a gap in our
own capabilities. We have also recently incorporated a new
company called MoRoW Ltd who are helping us commercialise
the device we are building. Working with the team at I-TAC
has helped us apply for equity funding which will help us fully
commercialise the project.” Butters Innovations Ltd project
partners include University of Salford, Medilink North West and
PDS Engineering.
8
TopCat Research Ltd aims to provide effective and cost
conscious analytical products for the food, pharmaceutical and
environmental markets with products based on immunoassay
(ELISA) and DNA detection (PCR) platforms. Director, Anthony
Cope, said “Bringing my business to I-TAC has enabled me to
gain £50,000 from the NW Fund to achieve proof of concept.
We’re developing a pregnancy testing technology that will be
used to help breeding programmes for endangered animals -
nothing like this exists at the moment. Being based at I-TAC was
a huge positive when applying for funding. This type of support
was not available anywhere else. I look forward to growing
and developing my ideas and taking on new staff in the months
ahead.”
BiSN Technologies Ltd offers a range of services to help oil
and gas operators in a variety of areas, from materials testing
to research and development in microbiologically enhanced oil
recovery. BiSN has recently gained £25,000 in funding from the
Technology Strategy Board. Paul Carragher and Leo Richards said:
“The equipment and facilities, both at Daresbury and throughout
the STFC network, allow us to compete at a world leading level.
The range of services we can now offer matches, and in most
cases exceeds, what our competitors can offer. In addition, the
STFC and campus network has already proved valuable, having
linked us to academic and industrial contacts. “
www.itac.stfc.ac.uk and www.stfc.ac.uk/Futures

National Science and
Engineering Week
goes off with a BANG
Like many organisations STFC was
heavily involved with events during
and around National Science and
Engineering week.
With over 29,000 people attending
The Big Bang 2011, one of the UK’s
biggest science events for young
people celebrating science, technology,
engineering and mathematics, STFC were
proud to send a team from ISIS. The
team together with experts from Cella
Energy (Fascination issue 5, STFC spin out
company) had a stand on the theme of low
carbon energy. The stand featured mini
hydrogen-powered cars and an array of
novel hydrogen storage material samples.
For the scientists and engineers working
on the stand, it was a rare opportunity to
talk to children and young people about
their work at ISIS: “I had an excellent
time”, said Atahl Nathanson, a UCL PhD
student working with ISIS on hydrogen
storage. “It was an excellent opportunity
to explain how hydrogen fuel cells work
to a completely different audience. It was
also a great chance to see what other
organisations are up to!”
“We all really
enjoyed it and
found the level
about right - quite
challenging but
grounded in
things that they
were familiar
with. It brought
the subject alive
for the students.
Please add us to
your mailing list!
9

Pulling together
to get top results
How do you see inside something if it is too small to see even with the most
powerful microscope? To look inside a molecule and see the arrangement
of the atoms? Crystallography is one potential answer. Crystallography is a
process which provides 3-dimensional information from proteins and helps
provide basic understanding of biological processes on a molecular level.
Crystallography is the method
that gives you the best resolution .
Out of the original seven beamlines
at Diamond three were specifically
for use with this process and
now 5 dedicated instruments for
macromolecular crystallography
(MX) are operational. Microfocus MX
beamline provides X-ray beams down
to 5 microns allowing investigations
of samples with dimensions of only
a few micrometres, instead of a
few tens of microns for standard
experiments.
A brand new set up at the Harwell
Oxford Campus is expected to open
up a whole new realm of possibilities
in crystallography. For the first time
micro-crystals can be captured and placed onto sample
holders used on the Diamond MX beamlines in a very specific
way through the use of laser tweezers – previously this has
been a random selection process. For X-ray studies being able
to select the bigger crystals can improve the resolution of the
obtained protein structure significantly. Using laser tweezers
makes the capture of specific sized crystals in the sample
possible.
Typical CPV crystal preparation.
Average sample size is around 5 x 5 x 5 microns.
A ‘spiders web’ has been designed
by STFC’s Micro and Nanotechnology
Centre (MNTC) to sit under the
mesh that the identified crystals are
placed on – this ensures that even
smaller crystals can be captured.
This means many more crystals can
be examined – usually those samples
would be lost because there was no
system capable of analysing them
so important information could
have been lost. The overall time for
capturing and analysing crystals will
be drastically improved. It will be far
more time effective than the random
process. Previously you may have
needed to go through as many as
300 samples to collect results from the
correct size of crystal now you can just collect the specific
samples you need.
The collaboration stretches right across the Harwell Oxford
Campus . The facilities involved are Diamond, Central Laser
Facility MNTC and the Research Complex at Harwell together
with Zeiss Microimaging. Although not yet fully operational
this collaboration will offer many benefits. Once the required
modifications to the process have been made the plan will be
to integrate this system into the Diamond proposal system.
ESA TTN Showcase
STFC Daresbury Laboratory,
17 May
including an introduction to STFC
and UK ESA Technology transfer activities
http://www.stfc.ac.uk/Business+and+Innovation/22067.aspx
10

Daresbury’s first I-TAC
tenant cleans up with
supermarket giant
Bug battling firm Byotrol, which researched and developed its
revolutionary hygiene technology at STFC’s I-TAC, has worked with
McBrides, Europe’s leading provider of Private Label Household products,
to launch a ground-breaking cleaning spray for Tesco.
Byotrol’s patented technology, which is used
in wipes, sprays and mousses to combat the
spread of viruses and superbugs, including
MRSA, is the main bacteria-killing ingredient
in Tesco’s own-brand multi-surface spray. In
contrast to old technologies, Byotrol contains
no alcohol or bleach so is gentler on skin and
the environment and is significantly longer
lasting than traditional but harsher cleaning
products currently on the market.
Manchester-based Byotrol relocated
its entire R&D division from Germany to
Daresbury’s I-TAC in 2009 to develop and
enhance its patented technology.
A-level students tell us what they think of
this year’s Particle Physics Masterclasses
Hundreds of A-level students went to STFC’s Daresbury and
Rutherford Appleton Laboratories during National Science
and Engineering Week (11-20 March 2011) to take part in
Particle Physics Masterclasses. The classes are designed to
inspire students to pursue careers in science and fill key jobs
in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
STFC Press Officer Lucy Stone went to speak to a few of the
students at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL):
Audio file of Lucy Stone’s interview with Masterclass students
http://www.stfc.ac.uk/resources/mp/PPMFINALAUDIO.mp3
The students at RAL learnt about contemporary research in
particle physics. Their day
included a visit to the ISIS
neutron source or Diamond
Light Source, two of the
world’s leading centres
for materials research,
both driven by high-power
particle accelerators. The
event included talks by
particle physicists from RAL
and CERN, and a computerbased
workshop using real
data from the Large Hadron
Collider.
Students from schools across the North West joined scientists
from the Cockcroft Institute (CI) at Daresbury Laboratory for the
annual Particle Physics Masterclass. Building on the successes
of previous years, and acknowledging the unique opportunities
available in running a masterclass at a national laboratory, the
CI outreach group obtained agreement from the Institute of
Physics to shift the emphasis towards accelerator design and
performance, thereby showcasing the technologies that facilitate
particle physics experiments. This was essentially the first particle
and accelerator physics masterclass.
Some new activities were run this year, including an exercise
to show how the basic design parameters for the Diamond Light
Source were calculated from the target specifications, and a
new and challenging exercise to study how an electron bunch
is both compressed and rotated in space to maximise the peak
current before it is used to drive the free-electron laser on the
ALICE accelerator. These were backed by other tried-and-tested
exercises to estimate the injector beam energy in ALICE using
only some basic physics and a few simple measurements, plus
particle physics simulations, and further supported by lectures
on the quark model of
particle physics and aspects
of particle accelerator
science.
Scientists and engineers
from RAL Space were also
very busy engaging with
over 1000 members of the
public in science week:On
11 and 12 March, families
and members of the public
received expert tuition
on the stars in our night
sky during activities organised as part of the Reading Science
Week. Barry Kellett, from RAL Space, explained the make-up of
our Moon with a hands-on display of Moon rocks and meteorites,
whilst Reading Astronomical Society were on hand to assist with
stargazing.
Several graduates from the robotics team took a robot
challenge to the Changing Perspectives Festival at Bristol,
organised by Bristol University; http://www.bristol.ac.uk/
public-engagement/events/2011/37.html.
11

Access all areas
Backstage Science
Science is a subject that
fascinates most of us. What
makes our science so exciting,
the study of materials, the
solving of problems?
Have you ever wanted to look
inside a particle accelerator? Meet
a plasma scientist? Here is your
opportunity to take a peak inside
STFC.
Backstage Science is a small
selection of videos about STFC. The
footage includes interviews with
some our scientists and a fantastic
unparalleled opportunity to see
behind the scenes at many of our
facilities, most of which can’t easily be
accessed.
From fitting a new instrument on
ISIS (set of super microscopes) to
creating a vacuum better than on the
Moon - STFC science and technology
covers many areas.
Take a look for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/
BackstageScience
Royal Society pairing scheme:
for MPs, civil servants and scientists
The Royal Society is looking for scientists to take part in its pairing
scheme for MPs, civil servants and scientists.
The scheme starts in Autumn with the ‘Week in
Westminster’: a programme of activities for the scientists
including seminars, workshops, shadowing opportunities
and a tour of Westminster.
Applications are now open to scientists with an interest
in science policy, a proven ability to communicate their
research and at least three years of post-doctoral research
experience.
For more information, please visit: royalsociety.org/pairing-scheme
Contacts
Science and Technology Facilities Council,
Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon,
SN2 1SZ
Tel: +44 (0)1793 442000
Fax: +44 (0)1793 442002
Email: fascination@stfc.ac.uk web: www.stfc.ac.uk
Fascination is produced six times a year.
To subscribe please go to:
http://www.stfc.ac.uk/stfcforms/NewsletterBooking.aspx
Edited by Jane Binks.
Designed by STFC Media Services. Printed by the Research
Council’s Joint Reprographics Service.
If you have comments on this publication, or suggestions for
future editions please email fascination@stfc.ac.uk